אקמצא ובר קמצא חרוב ירושלים,דההוא גברא דרחמיה קמצא ובעל דבביה בר קמצא עבד סעודתא אמר ליה לשמעיה,זיל אייתי לי קמצא אזל אייתי ליה בר קמצא,אתא אשכחיה דהוה יתיב אמר ליה,מכדי ההוא גברא בעל דבבא דההוא גברא הוא מאי בעית הכא,קום פוק,אמר ליה,הואיל ואתאי שבקן ויהיבנא לך דמי מה דאכילנא ושתינא אמר ליה,לא,אמר ליה,יהיבנא לך דמי פלגא דסעודתיך,אמר ליה,לא,אמר ליה,יהיבנא לך דמי כולה סעודתיך,א"ל,לא,נקטיה בידיה ואוקמיה ואפקיה,אמר,הואיל והוו יתבי רבנן ולא מחו ביה ש"מ קא ניחא להו איזיל איכול בהו קורצא בי מלכא,אזל אמר ליה לקיסר,מרדו בך יהודאי,א"ל,מי יימר,א"ל,שדר להו קורבנא חזית אי מקרבין ליה,אזל שדר בידיה עגלא תלתא,בהדי דקאתי שדא ביה מומא בניב שפתים ואמרי לה בדוקין שבעין דוכתא דלדידן הוה מומא ולדידהו לאו מומא הוא,סבור רבנן לקרוביה משום שלום מלכות אמר להו רבי זכריה בן אבקולס יאמרו,בעלי מומין קריבין לגבי מזבח,סבור למיקטליה דלא ליזיל ולימא אמר להו רבי זכריה יאמרו,מטיל מום בקדשים יהרג,אמר רבי יוחנן,ענוותנותו של רבי זכריה בן אבקולס החריבה את ביתנו ושרפה את היכלנו והגליתנו מארצנו
Yerushalayim was destroyed due to [the incident involving] Kamtza and Bar Kamtza. There was a man who was a close friend of Kamtza and an enemy of Bar Kamtza. He made a party and told his servant to invite Kamtza. The servant brought him Bar Kamzta. The host found Bar Kamtza sitting. The host said to him: "Since you are my enemy, what are you doing here? Get up and leave!"
Bar Kamtza said to him: "Once I have come, leave me be and I will pay for everything I eat and drink."
"No!"
"I will pay for half the party."
"No!"
"I will pay for the entire party."
"No!" He took him by the hands, picked him up and threw him out.
Bar Kamtza said: "Since the rabbis were sitting there and did not protest, it seems that they were pleased with what happened. I will go and slander them before the emperor."
He said to the Caesar: "The Jews are rebelling against you."
"How do you know this?"
"Send them a sacrifice and see if they offer it."
The Caesar went ahead and sent with him a healthy calf. While he was on the way, he placed a blemish on the animal's upper lip; some say he caused a cataract on the eye. These things are blemishes for us (and disqualify an animal for sacrificing) but not for them (the Romans).
The Rabbis wanted to offer it (despite its disqualifying blemish) to preserve good relations with the authorities.
R. Zekharya ben Avkolus said to them: "People will then think that blemished animals may be offered upon the altar."
They wanted to kill the person who brought the animal, so he could not go and inform on them. R. Zekharya ben Avkolus said: "People will say that anyone who places a blemish in a sacrifice should be killed."
R. Yochanan said: "The humility of R. Zekharya ben Avkolus destroyed our temple, burned our sanctuary and exiled us from our land."
מקדש ראשון מפני מה חרב? מפני ג' דברים שהיו בו ע"ז וגלוי עריות ושפיכות דמים...אבל מקדש שני שהיו עוסקין בתורה ובמצות וגמילות חסדים מפני מה חרב? מפני שהיתה בו שנאת חנם ללמדך ששקולה שנאת חנם כנגד שלש עבירות ע"ז גלוי עריות ושפיכות דמים.
Why was the First Temple destroyed? For three things: idol worship, sexual immorality and bloodshed....But why was the Second Temple destroyed? For causeless hatred, to teach you that causeless hatred is equal in weight to the three sins of idol worship, sexual immorality and bloodshed.
A war of words over the legacy of Max Steinberg, fallen lone soldier
"What makes an American kid with shaky Hebrew and no ties to the state of Israel suddenly decide he is ready to make this sacrifice? Maybe Max was especially lost, or especially susceptible, or maybe he was just looking to do some good and became convinced by his Birthright experience that putting on an IDF uniform and grabbing a gun was the way to do it. That serving and protecting the Jewish people was the moral thing to do, and that the best way to accomplish it was to go fight for the Jewish state. It turns out that it’s not that hard to persuade young people to see the world a certain way and that Birthright is very good at doing it. You spend hundreds of millions of dollars to convince young Jews that they are deeply connected to a country that desperately needs their support? This is what you get. " Alison Benedikt, Slate 7/22/14
"On behalf of our entire family, we want to answer the question on the minds of many people," his father Stuart began a eulogy Wednesday, as tens of thousands of Israelis who had never known Sgt. Max Steinberg, listened in a rapt, strikingly respectful silence.
The question: "'Do you have any regrets that Max enlisted in the IDF as a 'lone soldier' (in his case, one whose family lives abroad)?"
Stuart Steinberg continued without hesitation. "The answer is an unequivocal No. " An outpouring of support, love, gratitude, and appreciation, first for Max in life, and then for the family "helped to erase any possible doubt." Max Steinberg's father at funeral on Har Herzl, 7/23/14
"I was once a kid growing up in the Valley, like Max, not at all particularly interested in Israel, much more into music and sports. Only when I visited here, did I understand what Max would as well. Kool-Aid has nothing to do with it. Nor indoctrination, nor millions of dollars, nor uniforms and guns.
It's the people who are here. Not everyone, but an extraordinary number, given the circumstances. Decent, loving, wounded, coping. They have everything to do with it." --Bradley Burston, Haaretz, 7/29/14
Question for thought:
In what ways have you felt that the people of Israel are like family?